Professor Kelly Coate

Earlier today, Kelly Coate, Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Education and Students, wrote to all final year students. You can read her full email below:

Dear finalist,

I wanted to get in touch with you following yesterday's finalists’ results day and offer my sincerest apologies for the disruption that many of you have experienced due to the impact of University and College Union’s (UCU) national marking and assessment boycott.

Yesterday should have been a day of celebration, but for many of you, it was an extremely difficult day due to the uncertainty of not receiving your final results.

The impact of the boycott means that almost 70% of our finalists have been informed that they cannot yet have their degree classification and will have to wait until all assessments have been marked. They will receive an ordinary degree in the meantime, if they have enough credit.

The Vice-Chancellor has received many emails from upset finalists whose education has been disrupted both by the pandemic and persistent industrial action. I want to offer my sincere apologies at the upset and disruption caused. This is one of the reasons why the Vice-Chancellor, and the local Sussex UCU branch, called upon national UCU and the University and Colleges Employers Association (UCEA), to step up negotiations to bring this national dispute to an end, in a joint statement two weeks ago.

I am truly sorry that many of you find yourself without your full results. I know that this is very unsettling, especially as you have worked so hard, and want to progress with your lives, whether that be into jobs, postgraduate education, or other routes. We will be doing everything we can to ensure that outstanding marking gets completed as soon as possible.

In order to get help and support, stay up to date and access frequently asked questions around the impact of the boycott on you, I would urge you to access the Student Hub, which we will continue to update as soon as we get any further updates or new information.

I would also like to take the opportunity to remind you of the recent graduation update – outlining what we hope will be a chance to celebrate your achievements with your cohort, families and loved ones at the graduation ceremonies.

The University’s sole focus now is to ensure that all outstanding work from finalists is marked as soon as possible. I want to thank colleagues who are going above and beyond to help us achieve this.

With best wishes,

Kelly Coate
Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Education & Students